http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn9508-nasa-to-pay-12-million-for-ticket-on-russian-spaceship.html
NASA will have to pay $12 million (€9 million euros) to use a Russian Soyuz rocket to reach the International Space Station (ISS) next year, according to Russian news reports. Russian space agency Roskosmos was quoted as saying the charge applies to a US astronaut's planned flight in the spring of 2007. Until recently, US astronauts had been able to ride free on the Soyuz, the lifeline to the ISS, which is primarily managed by Russia and the US. The pact stated that Russia was to provide 11 Soyuz trips for US as well as Russian astronauts to reach the station, but the last of those 11 took place on 30 September 2005. The Soyuz had been the main lifeline to the station after the fatal explosion of the NASA space shuttle Columbia in 2003. After that flight, the US was forbidden to buy seats on Russian vehicles because of a law passed in 2000, called the Iran Nonproliferation Act (INA). The law was designed to prevent the spread of nuclear technologies from Russia to Iran. Crucial lifeboat One clause made it illegal for the US to pay Russia for goods and services related to the space station, including Soyuz capsule rides, until the White House was satisfied that nuclear technologies were not being sold to Iran. But the Soyuz is the only crew-carrying spacecraft that remains docked to the station for six months at a time, acting as a "lifeboat" for the station's long-term crew in case of an emergency. Its importance to NASA's ISS programme led the US Congress to pass a bill in November 2005 allowing the US to purchase "tickets" on the spacecraft. Now, the space agencies have settled on a $12 million fee for the flights – a steep discount from the $20 million charged to space tourists for trips to the ISS. The agreement was reached during a "recent visit by a Roskosmos delegation to the United States," Alexei Krasnov, director of manned flights for Roskosmos, told the Russian news agency Interfax-AVN. The two agencies also agreed on the terms of their cooperation in the ISS until 2015, he said. The US space shuttle Discovery, carrying seven crew, docked with the ISS on Thursday in just the second such mission since the Columbia accident, which killed seven astronauts. NASA plans a return to regular flights, which are seen as vital to helping supply and build the still unfinished ISS. Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
